With social media successfully connecting consumers and brands, it might be tempting to cut email — an older, less glamorous marketing tactic — from next year’s budget. But recent research findings caution against putting a travel brand’s subscriber-based electronic newsletter, a high-performing workhorse, out to pasture.More than 90% of Americans subscribe to at least one permission-based daily email and 70%  say they always open emails from their favorite companies, according to ExactTarget. Not only is email one of the most ubiquitous communications platforms, with 95% of U.S. online consumers using it, a New York Times-commissioned study revealed that because it’s more private, email is preferred over social media as sharing tool. The Association of National Advertisers, which conducted the study, advises marketers to provide email content that enhances consumers’ relationships with each another.

Since people love sharing vacation stories and photos so much, this bodes well for travel marketers. But you may need to rethink your email strategy to inspire more reader interactivity.

Here are three guidelines for making your electronic newsletter program more sociable.

1. Research. Survey your e-news readers to find out what topics they want to hear about from your brand. You can use your email platform to conduct a quick online poll and offer Facebook fans the opportunity to provide feedback, too. Ask readers about when and why they last visited your destination and what attracted them to do so. Inquire about how often they’d like to hear from you and what they’d like to see more of and less of in the newsletter.

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